


Learning

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Feral Wolf Baby Roxas, Gen, Pre-Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, The Organization Is The Worst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4714220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Without memories, Roxas begins as a blank slate. He learns from the people around him -- the things they say, and the things they don't say.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning

**Author's Note:**

> Contains Roxas being a baaaaby. Which means he can think, but still isn't really talking, or feeling, or remembering anything that happens to or around him. Also contains Demyx being the worst, Larxene also being the worst, and Lexaeus being the best. Everyone in the Organization is a loser, true fact. Written for the [](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/)**fic_promptly** prompt "explaining to the new kid that a scary face doesn't mean cruel and a pretty face doesn't mean nice".

Roxas watched a man in a black coat approach him, shuffling his footsteps and rubbing the back of his neck. He was making a great show of it, sighing greatly as he came to a halt in front of Roxas. Roxas wondered what was wrong with him.

"I get to give you a tour of the castle grounds," the man said. "Whoopee."

Roxas didn't recognize the word. He assumed it had something to do with assignments. He didn't say anything.

"Why, you ask?" said the man.

Roxas hadn't said anything. He shook his head in denial, but the man continued, "As punishment for not doing a report on my last mission! What's there to report? I went, I checked out the place, some Shadows nipped at my ankles, I came back, the end. The whole mission wasn't even worth the time it would take to write it up, man. The place was boring as all get-out."

He talked a lot, Roxas observed. He could've used many fewer words to say the same thing.

"...Yeah, hanging out with you is going to be a barrel of laughs. Do you remember my name, at least?"

Names. That's right, everyone here had a name, like he had 'Roxas' and 'XIII'. He frowned slowly. He couldn't remember much of anything from the past few days. They had all passed in a dizzyingly bright whirlwind of hours and activity.

The man sighed again. Roxas wondered if he was very tired. Wasn't that a tired sound? "Man, I remember _your_ name. It's Demyx. _Demyx._ Can you remember that for me?"

He wasn't going to go away. Roxas let his gaze slide to the floor and formed the syllables on his clumsy tongue: "...Demyx."

The man brightened. "Hey, it talks! Cool. Maybe you're starting to wake up a little bit, huh? I guess that you're pretty much guaranteed to recover after a whole week of doing nothing. I envy you -- I wish I was new and got a week of vacation again."

Demyx put a gloved hand on Roxas' shoulder, steering him down one hallway. Roxas looked at it. He decided he didn't like it and shrugged out from under the man's grasp. He took the next few steps on his own to demonstrate that he didn't need to be steered around.

The gesture didn't seem to faze Demyx. "I got the tour on the first day, but I guess you're only now starting to put stuff together, right? It's kind of like having a baby around. Anyway, so, you know, this is a hallway... It leads to the Gray Area, where we just were, to... a bunch of other places."

Even if he was a 'baby', Roxas could tell useless information from useful information. He began to doubt, vaguely, that Demyx would say anything that was actually worth hearing.

"What are you into? Books? Games? Food? Probably food, right? I'll show you the way to the kitchen. And hey, maybe some of the other guys will be there and I'll introduce you."

He meant the other black-coated men and the woman. He remembered the scarred one who gave the orders, and the one with the bright red corona of hair, and Xemnas, but details about the others -- even though he knew he had met them before -- escaped him. Roxas frowned again.

He didn't like forgetting.

Demyx led him to a room without fanfare or instruction. Roxas was busy trying to memorize the route, and so he didn't look up until Demyx said, "Oh, perfect. Larxene is here. I always forget that she might be places because I keep hoping she'll stop existing."

Roxas followed his gaze. The woman was at a long table, eating from a bowl, but her attention fixed on them quickly. She met his eyes for half a second before he lowered his head, and then she turned to Demyx. While Roxas watched her, her expression changed -- he thought maybe she was annoyed.

"Are they having you babysit our brainless wonder because no one trusts you to do actual missions?" she asked. Roxas noted her tone and decided that it must be what annoyed sounded like.

He also noted that he'd been insulted, but the insult was meaningless to him. He didn't care what she thought.

"I'm teaching him about the castle and some valuable life lessons," Demyx said. "Like -- you see, Roxas, she looks real pretty, but if you actually talk to her, she's awful. That's how you know that just because something is pretty doesn't mean it's good."

Larxene smiled and lifted a hand. A fistful of knives appeared between her fingers. Roxas felt his eyes widen, not expecting it. "I might just have to remove your tongue if you keep _flattering_ me with it."

Demyx put his hands on Roxas's shoulders -- touching him again; Roxas felt his expression shift in a way that might have been annoyance as well -- and pushed him toward a door. "It's always great fun running into you, Larxene! Still giving Roxas here a tour, so I'll have to be going."

The inner room was warmer. There were metallic surfaces and items everywhere, and in the center of it all was a massive figure that turned to regard them with neutral blue eyes.

"Lexaeus, hey!" Demyx gestured excitedly. "This is Lexaeus. He's V in the Organization, so he's one of the first. That means he's probably one of the only people who knows what's actually going on around here. I sure don't!"

Roxas looked up at the man, taking in his stern features and imposing physique. Part of him wanted to step away, put more distance between them.

 _If pretty things can be awful, scary things must be able to be nice, too,_ he thought. He took a few steps forward instead, eyes on the pot Lexaeus was holding by its handle, wanting to know what he was doing.

Lexaeus rumbled quietly, "Are you hungry?"

Roxas looked up at him, reluctant to make eye contact but uncertain of the answer. What was hungry like? How would he know if he was hungry?

The giant man didn't seem to need an answer. He reached into the pot and drew out a small white oval shape, then took Roxas's hand and turned his palm up. Delicate, he deposited the white oval in his gloved hand.

Roxas gazed at it and then looked at Lexaeus again. Lexaeus took another white oval from the pot and brought it to his mouth, taking a bite out of it. Neither of them said anything.

You were supposed to eat it, then. Roxas bit into it gingerly. It was soft and warm, yielding easily to his teeth and leaving a mild flavor.

"Aww, this is a cute scene! You guys are cute. Can I have an egg too, Lexy?" Demyx stepped up behind Roxas. "I didn't get to have breakfast before Saix sent me off to be a tour guide just because I wasn't doing any of my mission reports. Joke's on him -- if I'd had to go on a real mission, I'd just have ended up with more reports to not write anyway!"

Lexaeus looked at Demyx squarely. "Get out," he said.

"You got it," Demyx said, grabbing Roxas by the shoulder again to pull him away.

Roxas let himself be pulled, but shrugged him off again to walk on his own. This was definitely annoyed, he thought.

"And then sometimes what you see is what you get," Demyx said, half in a whisper. "He never talks, he doesn't like anyone, and you _don't_ want to push him."

Roxas examined Demyx briefly. He smiled a lot. He looked harmless enough. He was tall and seemed confident. He was just as good an example as Larxene, Roxas suspected, that a smooth and smiling face was not the same as good -- or wise.


End file.
